Research: Live yeast in rabbit diets

French researchers investigated the effect of live yeast stability in rabbit digestive tract, specifically looking at the consequences on the caecal ecosystem, digestion, growth and digestive health.

Live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC Sc 47 was added to the diet of weaning rabbits (35d old) to analyse the effects on the caecal ecosystem (biotope and bacterial community), digestion and health status.

Trial setup

Two levels of yeast (1 and 10 g/kg feed, group C1 and C10 corresponding to 106 and 107 CFU/g DM) were compared to a control group (C0) without live yeast addition.

Three groups of 10 young rabbits were used in a first experiment to measure digestibility and caecal parameters and to calculate the yeast survival rate in the digestive tract.

Growth performance and health status were studied on 3 further groups of 40 rabbits (Experiment 2).